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The Starfish and the…evil eight-legged thingy…

A few months ago, a book (The Starfish and the Spider (seriously…they could not go with an Octopus or a Squid?!)) was recommended by a couple people in the California Jedi Chat. Since then, I have noticed a several people discussing the organization of the Jedi community, arguing that it is more of a Starfish (smaller groups all operating independently) vs. a Spider (each community operating under the direct control of one person/group). This discussion spiked when a recent organizational document made its way around.

I cannot entirely agree with this though. I think Starfish-type organizations function better if the group functions on a “whatever-works-best” basis. In other words, there are no standards or requirements, people just do what works in order for their group to be successful.

The Jedi that we see in the prequels are at the end of their life, and are too much under the control of the republic, but I think the structure they had is most appropriate. You have a central governing body with the council, they set the standards and uphold the order. Each Jedi or teams of Jedi however, must function on their own when out on missions. It is a hybrid organization (which are also addressed the book).

The Jedi in our reality currently are more of a Starfish organization, but because of that we have a wide variation of standards, and even groups completely lacking standards all together. A central council would be ideal, though it has yet to be successfully achieved, mainly because there is a variety of ideas of what exactly we should be.